Tinubu secures another $700m loan from World Bank, 3rd since becoming President, details emerge

The federal government has secured a fresh $700m loan from the World Bank, the third facility approved under the administration of Bola Tinubu.

The first was approved on June 9, 2023, with a loan of $750m to boost Nigeria’s power sector.

The second was a loan of $500m to help Nigeria drive women’s empowerment, and was approved on June 22, 2023, Punch reports.

The latest loan was disclosed in a statement published on its website on Friday, September 22, 2023.

According to the statement, the $700 million loan will enhance adolescent girls’ learning and empowerment.

Also, the new loan is to provide additional funds for an ongoing project known as the Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment(AGILE)

The statement read: “The World Bank approved additional financing of $700m for Nigeria to scale up the Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment programme whose goal is to improve secondary education opportunities among girls in targeted states.

“The additional financing will scale up project activities from the current seven states to eleven additional states and increase the targeted beneficiaries to include out-of-school girls, those who are married, and those who have disabilities.”

The seven states AGILE programmes have been implemented are Borno, Ekiti, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, and Plateau.

The new fund World Bank believes would push the project to 18 states and help Nigeria to achieve better education and health outcomes for girls.

World Bank gives more explanation

The World Bank Country Director for Nigeria, Shubham Chaudhuri, in the statement, explained:

“Closing the gender gaps in economic empowerment by ensuring girls have access to education and skills is key for Nigeria’s development and economic prosperity.

“Nigeria’s working population will soon be one of the youngest and largest around the world, which means that investing in adolescent girls is imperative when addressing overall economic prospects and growth.”

The statement also noted that aside from the girls that would benefit from the financing, others included over 15 million students and beneficiaries, such as teachers, administrators, families, communities, and staff in existing and newly constructed schools.